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Archived: Abercarn Care Home

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

56 High Street, Pensnett, West Midlands, DY5 4RS (01384) 480059

Provided and run by:
Cotdean Nursing Homes Limited

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 5 April 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

One inspector carried out this inspection along with an expert by experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. On this visit the expert’s area of expertise was as a family carer of an older person who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type:

Abercarn Care Home is a care home. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are 'registered persons'. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

Notice of inspection

The inspection took place on 19 February 2019 and was unannounced.

What we did:

Before the inspection:

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection in October 2015. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about, such as abuse. We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually (the Provider Information Return) to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection. We checked for feedback from local authorities and commissioning bodies.

During inspection:

We looked at the information we had gathered. We met and spoke with seven of the people living at Abercarn Care Home and spent time observing staff working with and supporting people in communal areas of the home. We also spoke with five relatives. We spoke with three care staff, the cook and the registered manager. We also spoke with one visiting healthcare professional.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people's care records and medication records. We also looked at the training records of all staff and staff rotas. We reviewed records relating to the management of the home and looked at a small selection of policies and procedures developed and implemented by the provider.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 5 April 2019

About the service: Abercarn Care Home is a residential care home registered to provide accommodation and personal care for up to 35 people aged 65 and over. At the time of the inspection there were 21 people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service:

People continued to receive safe care from staff who had been provided with safeguarding training. There were detailed risk management plans in place to protect and promote people’s safety. Staffing numbers were being maintained to keep people safe and the registered manager followed the established recruitment procedures to ensure staff employed were suitable for their role.

People’s medicines were managed safely and in line with best practice guidelines. Improvements had been made since the last inspection to ensure administration procedures were always safe and consistent. Systems were in place to ensure that people were protected by the prevention and control of infection. Accidents and incidents were analysed for lessons learnt and these were shared with the staff team to reduce further reoccurrence.

People’s needs and choices were assessed and their care provided in line with their preferences. Staff received an induction process when they first commenced work at the service and received on-going training to ensure they could provide care based on current practice when supporting people.

People received enough to eat and drink and were supported to access health professionals when required, including opticians and doctors. Staff provided support to people when needed to make sure they received continuing healthcare to meet their needs.

People were supported to have choice and control of their lives. Staff supported people in the least restrictive way possible and upheld their legal rights. People were encouraged to make decisions about how their care was provided and their privacy and dignity were protected and promoted by staff. The principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) were followed.

People continued to receive care from staff who were kind and caring. People had developed positive relationships with staff who had a good understanding of their needs and preferences.

People’s needs were assessed and initially planned for with the involvement of the person and/or their relative where required. Care plans were personalised and provided staff with guidance about how to support people and respect their wishes. We have made a recommendation about improving how people are involved in decisions about their ongoing care and support needs.

The service continued to be well managed. People and staff were encouraged to provide feedback about the service. Staff felt well-supported and had opportunities to share ideas, and exchange information. Effective systems were in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided through a range of internal checks and audits. The registered manager was aware of their responsibility to report events that occurred within the service to the CQC and external agencies.

The home continued to meet the characteristics of a rating of good in all areas. For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection: The home was rated Good at the last inspection (report published in December 2015).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating to check that this service remained good.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive.